


Groundwork

by moontourist



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Cas being goddamn adorable, Dean being a goddamn (lovable) idiot, Drabble, Fluff, Gay Castiel, M/M, Openly Bisexual Dean, Shy Dean, Teacher Castiel, Teacher Dean Winchester, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-05-21 05:49:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6040606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moontourist/pseuds/moontourist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Dean wanted was a measly cup of coffee.</p><p>Now fortified with prequelly goodness!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a scene I've had in my head for a while.

            Dean had come into the lounge to refill his coffee but nearly turned back when he saw Castiel. He was a first year teacher who had snagged a position in the History department, who had completed his graduate work at Columbia, possessed an endearingly nerdy collection of sweater vests, and, as Charlie had made sure to confirm, was very conveniently gay.

            Knowing that Dean had been nursing a crush on the dark haired teacher, Charlie thought she’d been doing God's work when she had casually brought up dating to Castiel. However, Dean had always been a bit bashful around attractive men (even after his terrifying, liberating coming to terms era) but once he had confirmation that Cas was in fact gay, it had gone from bad to worse.

            The first time he had talked to Castiel he had actually spilled coffee down his shirt _from his mouth_. The last time, fully aware that he should be laying down groundwork and not drooling beverages, he ended up getting distracted by Castiel wetting his lips and trailed off, unable to remember what he’d been saying. Dean ended up not finishing his sentence and instead asked the man where the toilets were. That stupid, fucking, embarrassing _Bridget Jones_ quote had somehow popped out of his mouth and instead of trying to explain himself Dean just laughed nervously and abruptly left the room. He had made the mistake of recounting the incident to his friends who were still giving him grief.

            Castiel was sitting at a table, a few thick books laid out in front of him and a cup of coffee by his side. He wasn't paying attention to either, however, and instead was casually scrolling through his phone. As Dean debated on continuing to the coffee maker or walking out with ego arguably still intact, Castiel looked up.

            "Dean," he greeted with a nod.

            For a brief moment Dean just stared at the man, appreciating the natural pink of his full lips and the dark grey of his sweater vest. He was, however, fully determined to complete a sentence this time, so Dean swallowed and responded, "How are uh, how you doin', Cas?"

            "Oh, you know me," Castiel replied, eyes flicking down to the tattered paperback in Dean's hand and then continuing, "I could live in a nutshell and count myself king of the universe… were it not that I have very bad dreams." He smiled at Dean as if he were expecting a reward or they were sharing an inside joke.

            Dean, caught off guard by the reference and Cas' smile, immediately grew flustered. Normally he would have shot back a retort, quoted back another line, or at very least corrected the paraphrasing. Instead, he managed a pitiful, "Yeah, uhm..." and suddenly felt his cheeks begin to flush.

            Instinct to flee took over, and he started to back up, not looking at where he was going or Castiel. "That's uh, that's..." and Dean tried to stifle an oomph as his backside hit the corner of a counter. Dean turned, placed a hand on the offending structure, and took a deep breath. He looked back at Cas, whose eyes were kinda bugged out and a half expectant smile was on his face. Assessing the damage and compounding it was Castiel's bangability, Dean admitted defeat, took a deep nod, finished with a yep and promptly turned and walked out of the room. He’d get caffeine some other way. Or he would hide in his room and bang his head on the desk. Same dif.


	2. Prequel: The Café Exodus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall can thank Trashland for accidentally guilting me into staying up and writing this garbage instead of sleeping.
> 
> Queue the meet cute!

As soon as Dean entered the auditorium he beelined towards Donna and Victor who were standing next to the table loaded with different breakfast foods and, most importantly, two giant urns of coffee. Still a little hungover and brain not firing on all cylinders, Dean nodded a hello as he maneuvered around them and started fixing himself a cup. Grabbing an everything bagel, Dean walked over to Victor's side and started halfway listening in on their conversation as he surveyed the room, looking for Charlie's bright red hair.

"Oh, no," he heard Donna say. "Bob's much better than Archer."

"No way, Hanscum. Archer's the man."

Dean nodded mostly to himself at what Victor had said before adding a casual, "Oh, yeah. I'd bang him if he were real." Stirring his cup, he turned and looked at Donna and Victor who were both smiling.

"Good to see ya, Dean." Victor said, while clapping him once on the shoulder.

Meanwhile Donna had screwed up her nose and was slightly moving her head back and forth, as if she were weighing the pros and cons.

"Hmm... with a condom, yeah, you betcha."

Dean chuckled at that and took a generous gulp of his coffee. The three of them munched on their breakfast and asked each other about their summers. Dean hadn’t seen much of either of them outside of a few board game nights that some of the faculty met up for, but it felt good to catch up with them.

Then, before an awkward silence had any chance of settling over the group, Dean looked down at his empty cup and asked, "Any chance of this figurative hell ending before two today?"

"Doubt it." Victor replied.

Dean groaned. "I'm thinkin' about grabbing another cup before ye olde annual bullshit pepathon takes off."

"Oh, yeah, you really should," Donna replied and then lifted her eyebrows while continuing, "Becky's promised us an inspirational, "Why I teach" presentation."

"Goddamnit. She knows she doesn't get paid any extra for spewing that crap, right?"

"I really don't think it makes a difference to her, man."

Dean rolled his eyes and went back to refill his coffee but as he turned around he finally spotted Charlie. He could see her straight on, face its usual, unnaturally cheery self, and standing next to her was Ash, looking her parallel opposite and as if he hadn't seen this side of the daylight all summer. What quickly caught his attention though was the backside of the person they were talking to. Dean was certain he hadn't met this man yet, and he was having an insanely difficult time trying to make his eyes look at something else. _Look_ _at Charlie, move your eyes and look at Charlie, goddamnit._  Dean instructed himself. His eyes did move to Charlie but then _but that ass, tho_ popped into his head and they sank right back down to their natural resting place: hardcore creeping on some unfortunate guy’s behind.

His singular attention was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. Donna leaned in closer and said, "That's the new history teacher for the juniors. You should go introduce yourself."

Dean nodded but didn't take a step forward until he felt a swat on his behind.

"I'm going, I'm going!" he whispered with mock anger.

Dean walked up to Charlie, all the while very aware that he hadn’t styled his hair or worn his best fitting jeans and that his breath probably reeked at this point from that goddamn bagel. His smile though was very genuine when Charlie finally noticed him and let out a loud and excited, “Dean!”

Dean went up to her and gave her a huge hug, purposely not looking over at the new hire until after greeting Charlie and Ash. He was, simply put, gorgeous. Dean simultaneously wanted to drag him into the nearest closet and run away.

“Dean,” Charlie supplied, already playing the role of world’s greatest wingwoman without even being solicited. “This is Castiel; he’s taking over Edlund’s position.”

Dean didn’t quite hear her right though, however, and held out his hand while asking, “Casteel?”

Cas smiled and corrected Dean’s pronunciation while taking his hand and shaking it.

“Wow, that’s uh, you don’t that day hear.” _Shit_.

“Sorry?” Castiel asked, head tilting slightly to the side.

“Everyday!” Dean supplied, a bit too quickly. “You don’t hear that name everyday!”

“No,” Cas responded. “I have yet to meet anybody else with my name. Makes for a heartbreaking experience anytime I try to find it on one of those little license plates you see at gas stations.”

Dean snorted and then mentally kicked himself for snorting and then just nodded his head, not trusting his stupid, hung over brain to figure out how to form sentences with proper syntax.

 “Dude, can you believe this guy has never seen _The X Files_?” Ash said to Dean while gesturing to Cas.

“ _Battlestar Galactica_ either.” Charlie supplied.

Dean just nodded, trying to find something clever to say and only being able to think of the word blue because he had just noticed Castiel’s eyes. _Wine-dark sea,_ Dean thought to himself. _This must be the color Homer meant when he said wine-dark sea. Jesus, he is gorgeous._

Dean hadn’t noticed the brief lull in the conversation as the group was waiting for him to verbalize a response, so Cas supplied an answer to try to keep the conversation going.

“I’m afraid I can only offer the poor cliché, “I’ve always been too busy with school” as my defense.”

“Well you should totally watch _Battlestar_ first. The mini-series.” Charlie prompted.

“No way,” Ash fired back. “Trust no one. The truth is out there. Get spooky. Watch _X Files_.”

Castiel looked at Dean as if he were honestly interested in not just watching the two series but in Dean’s recommendation with which one to start with. However, Dean’s mouth had gotten very dry very quickly, so he took a big sip of coffee first and was about to finally respond when he felt it. A heartbreakingly huge stream of coffee fell out of his mouth and onto his shirt. He hadn’t even been sipping form the cup at that point. It was as if some cruel and unusual God had suddenly made his mouth lose muscle control and everything just fell out.

Charlie looked away, trying to mask her emotions while Ash full on grabbed his knees and belly laughed at his poor friend. Cas’s hand immediately went up to his mouth to try to hide his smile as he just looked at Dean wide eyed.

“What the fuck?” Dean asked actually pretty coolly, especially considering the situation. His hands came up, as if he were going to cradle his head, until he threw it back and groaned. He could feel the warm coffee still running in tiny rivulets down his chest as he silently turned around and marched out to find a bathroom, all the while congratulating himself on one hell of a first impression.

Maybe, if he was very lucky, the earth would suddenly open up and swallow him.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe someday I'll write more... if the tide is right and the sirens are calling my name.


End file.
